


Glimpse of Danger

by Merfilly



Series: Growing Up Jedi [14]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Force Ghosts, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 04:07:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9367277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: Mara has a violent encounter inside the archive of Palpatine's belongings. The Sith had a plan, and Mara is beginning to see it might not be fully over for her family.





	

Mara had meditated during the time that she had waited for Leia to exhaust her resources. Food, sleep, then meditation had been her goal, and she was more than fortified inside herself as she looked up at her cousin.

"Four hours. And I will be watching." Leia's words were firm, brooking no argument, even as she brought Artoo into the room. "He has the codes, and he will be going with you."

/Good idea, cousin. That droid knows more signs of Force manipulation than should be possible./ The astromech was possibly only still activated because he had been in Theed with Leia instead of at the house with Uncle Anakin. Artoo would have fought, and they would have destroyed him, whomever the attackers had been.

"Very well." She rose and followed Artoo to the archives, deep in the most secure part of the Palace. Leia did not accompany her, but two of the security guards did, and Mara noted they were armed with both stun grenades and the heavier rifles. She approved of her cousin's precautions, as she didn't want to let anything Sithly escape from that room.

/Force be with me./

At the door, Artoo unlocked the cypher-encrypted security pad, and Mara hesitated only a moment before she entered the room, giving herself to the Force to hopefully find a clue as to where her Master, her uncle, and Galen all might be.

+++

Leia was standing on one side of the bed, and Padmé on the other as Mara tried to figure out why she was in a medical facility. Artoo was near; she heard him whirring and beeping softly in concern.

"You were on Coruscant," she said, and her voice was so hoarse, small to her ears even. 

"I was already on my way back because of the abduction," Padmé answered that. "Don't try speaking right now. You strained your voice and your throat is bruised as well."

"How—" At the very intense glare from both of her relatives, she shut up.

"The security feed showed you scan the room and begin studying some of the writings. Artoo said there was a noise, and when he looked at you, you had dropped the binder. The security feed confirms that, except then it gets very bizarre. The feed grew staticky, and what we could see involved you struggling against someone, as if they were choking you.

"Artoo said you began screaming after we glimpsed your lightsaber ignite, and then it cut off. We were already moving to get to you at that point… but you were unconscious on the floor when we got inside," Leia said. "Because the guards could not open the doors. I had to come down and use the Force to push them open."

"Your throat bears the marks of pressure all along it, but I've never heard of anything quite like this."

Mara nodded. Force chokes were a thing, but they rarely left visible marks. She had never heard of a Force specter actually managing to physically manifest either. More disturbingly, she didn't remember any of it, nothing past feeling a chill in the room as she was perusing the coded journal that had drawn her attention.

"I know you want to pursue this, Mara, but I think it is time for you to step back, and leave it to Master Kenobi and Master Billaba," Padmé counseled. "That's my husband out there, with a boy I've come to love as another son. Yet I am stepping back from the search for now, and giving them the time they need to look."

Mara closed her eyes, submitting to defeat. She hand-signed 'mom' and 'where' in battalion code.

"Your mother is finishing her mission, because they cannot leave that sector destabilized. It probably is connected to the abduction," Leia said, feeling the 'how convenient' in Mara's emotions, "but nonetheless, must be dealt with."

"She'll probably join the search once she is free," Padmé soothed. "Now, rest. We're going over all that we can from planetary control and forensics at the house. If we learn anything, you will be told."

Mara signed 'thank you' and then gave into the deep fatigue that had stolen over her.

Why was she so tired, when she had made certain she was well-rested and prepared for that room?

+++

_Careful plans had been laid, centuries of strategy worked into place. All was prepared. All would succeed, and the boy, the boy was the key._

_Spin the web, ensnare the boy, place the commands in his mind. Drive the wedges between him and the Jedi. Make him insecure, and at the right moment… push._

Mara whimpered in her sleep, seeing and feeling events that had led to the War, her body responding to the distress that knowing, without doubt, her uncle had been meant as the end game move brought.

_Insignificant distraction, twist events, push the child and the boy will have even less reason to trust the Jedi… insignificant… never a threat. How could it go against me… what is this power clinging to her… NO! I will not be ruined by a child!_

That shriek of denial, hissing and full of hatred snapped Mara out of the vision, nightmare, connection… whatever it had been! She sat up gasping for breath, afterimages of her mother lingering in her mind's eye.

/What does it mean? What power? What happened that meant he blames Mom?/

She might have been told to stay out of it, to leave it to the masters, but Mara had a bad feeling that was exactly what the Sith, the one who had nearly destroyed them all, intended to happen. She was not about to let him get away with it. If he wanted Uncle Anakin, if… there were commands in place, like the chips her Dad and uncles had once had, to make Anakin Skywalker Fall, anyone that found them was going to be at risk.

The key tied back to her mother, to that strange power the Sith Master had glimpsed in her. Mara got out of bed, removing the diagnostic equipment after using the Force to shut of the alarms on the sensors.

Artoo beeped; he was still watching over her as she began finding her clothes to dress. She would need his help, if she was going to do this. He'd raise the alarm if she didn't convince him.

"Anakin is in trouble," she whispered hoarsely, crouching to his level, meeting his optic. "Now, are you going to help me save him and Mom and the others, or are you going to tattle on me?"

Artoo considered, but his primary imperative was firmly wired toward his pilot. He gave a low assent, and Mara stood to finish dressing.

Why the Sith had a hook in her mind, she wasn't sure. Maybe it tied into that other time-line, the one where she killed her cousin. Right now, she didn't care. She was going to use it against him.

**Author's Note:**

> For those that are curious, the Force Ghost is Palpatine's Master. Going a creepy route, and he bound the man's spirit to his will and that journal.


End file.
